Pages

September 10, 2012

When to just give up...

Recently, I received word that something very uncool is happening to me. I'm going to be shorted on a chunk of money that I should be entitled to. I could fight the matter and perhaps even win. But the odds are against me. And the fight would be long and arduous. It would require talking to many, many people who don't care and don't speak good English and can't help me at all. It would be a lot of walking in circles and finding out no information after hours of effort, day after day.

Or I could just give up. Accept that life is an unfair bitch and swallow yet another loss. Just become that bitter person who hates the world already.

I'm trying to stop being so melodramatic. "At least you're not a heroin addict," I said to myself yesterday, in an attempt to cheer up. But that statement perfectly encapsulates why my world view is darkening. I'm not a heroin addict. And yet, somehow, I'm still short on money, still roasting in this hell, and still handed useless piles of baking soda.

7 comments:

In our home country, you'd hire a lawyer to fight for you in this situation. But I have no idea how things work in other countries. I hear stories of Americans in other countries being saved by the American Embassy - would they be able to help you in this situation?

Losing money sucks beyond belief. Have been there too many times. I don't really have any advice, except that if you do let it go, you really DO have to let it go and not let it fester in the back of your mind :(.

I have a cousin that works at a hospital in Dubai and she gets shitty pay and the hospital staff is treated like shit. The Middle East is definitely not known for how they treat their many service providers/professionals. I really do hope things start to look better for you.

"Or I could just give up. Accept that life is an unfair bitch and swallow yet another loss. Just become that bitter person who hates the world already." - A year ago I would have said the EXACT same thing, but I just picked myself up by the boot straps after crying here and there.

Is there anything you can do to make things better? Have you thought of coming back to the States to find employment?

I narrowly avoided a situation where I would've gotten shafted in a summer gig where I was supposed to teach English in Shanghai last summer. It wasn't even culture shock or language barriers as I had already lived in China for a year at that point, but I didn't realize it was shady until almost too late. I'm just lucky I managed to avoid it, although I probably burned a bridge or two. :/